The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
"If just half of New Zealand’s light vehicles were electric and plugged into [vehicle-to-grid], they would be able to push out the equivalent power of all of our nation’s power stations combined," says Queenstown Electrification Accelerator (QEA) lead Josh Ellison. That's the promise of V2G and the NZ Herald's Chris Keall has looked into the potential and pitfalls of the technology (paywalled).
The QEA and EECA are kicking off the country's biggest V2G trial in Queenstown and it will run for the next 18 months. The goal is to examine how consumers use the technology and iron out any technical issues so it can be rolled out smoothly nationwide. While cars that run appliances (often known as V2L) or charge other EVs is now common, V2G is not universal and there are lingering concerns among owners about voiding warranties, but manufacturers like BYD and new Chinese brand Zeekr are on board for the trial and are prooviding exemptions.
BYD General Manager Warren Wilmot says "it will include V2G as a standard, warranty-covered feature across all models by 2027".
As well as the savings from either avoiding high peak charges or the payments from exporting, there is also the added security. These big batteries could be crucial in the event of an emergency where the grid goes down.
As Ellison says: “Cars store a lot of energy. When that’s in a petrol tank, it’s not good for much else than driving ... With electric cars, you’re now getting a battery that can be used to power your home or your business. A new electric car has about three or four days of household energy in its battery.” And when you factor in solar, these batteries can keep being charged.
Find out more about the trial here.
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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